I held back from listing my Best of ‘08 at the end of the year, because there were still a few movies I’d yet to see. When I finally caught up, too many conflicts of interest clouded the order that was forming. Not that anyone cares at this point, but as Oscar voting comes to close, today seems like a fine time to list the 30 movies of 2008 that mattered to me the most.
Maybe you guys have had time to rethink your Top 10s in the past few weeks — or feel like expanding the scope to 20 or 30, too. Would love to see your lists. Here’s mine.
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
A Christmas Tale
Man on Wire
WALL-E
Revolutionary Road
Paranoid Park
Waltz with Bashir
The Reader
Gomorrah
The Edge of Heaven
Let the Right One In
The Class
Doubt
In Bruges
Trouble the Water
Up the Yangtze
Frozen River
Vicki Cristina Barcelona
Hunger
Encounters at the End of the World
Standard Operating Procedure
Ballast
Rachel Getting Married
Che
Tell No One
The Visitor
The Wrestler
132 Responses for "30 Movies that Mattered in 2008"
The relative ranking is still fluid, especially in the second half, but it’s firming up to a solid 30 Rock that feels right.
I still haven’t seen:
Synecdoche, New York
My Winnepeg
Boy A
Those are the only three i think would feel right at home with these 30. If you have any other movies you’d recommend, I’d be happy to hear about them.
from my website (filmgazing)
10. Be Kind Rewind
9. Doubt
8. Milk
7. Man On Wire
6. Slumdog Millionaire
5. Revolutionary Road
4. Wendy and Lucy
3. Dark Knight, The
2. Wall-E
1. Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
Synecdoche is a mess. I need to see it again though.
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Milk
3. Wall-E
4. The Dark Knight
5. The Fall
6. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
7. In Bruges
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. Let the Right One In
10. Love Songs
11. The Reader
12. The Wrestler
13. The Visitor
14. Burn After Reading
15. Revolutionary Road
16. Curious Case of Benjamin Button
17. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
18. Frost/Nixon
19. Iron Man
20. Doubt
For me, my top ten is (in no particular order):
The Dark Knight
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Let the Right One In
Man on Wire
Milk
Trouble the Water
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir
My Best 5 of 2008:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight
3. Revolutionary Road
4. Wall-E
5. The Duchess
Sorry, I have not seen Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Milk, Doubt, The Wrestler, Changeling and Rachel Getting Married
I still have quite a few things to see, but here is mine so far:
1. Milk
2. The Edge of Heaven
3. Man on Wire
4. Let the Right One In
5. Wendy and Lucy
6. Silent Light
7. Reprise
8. WALL-E
9. The Wrestler
10. Waltz with Bashir
I have to add Silent Light to my need-to-see list.
I also still have quite a few to see, here is mine so far:
1 The Dark Knight
2 Milk
3 Slumdog Millionaire
4 Rachel Getting Married
5 The Reader
6 Wall-E
7 In Bruges
8 The Visitor
9 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10 Paranoid Park / Burn After Reading
20 that most rocked something in me:
(basically in order)
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Wrestler
I’ve Loved You So Long
Frozen River
Trouble the Water
Synecdoche, New York
Happy-Go-Lucky
Che
WALL-E
Man on Wire
The Class
In Bruges
Waltz with Bashir
The Visitor
Married Life
Silent Light
Doubt
Slumdog Millionaire
(I have to see Rachel Getting Married on Friday.)
Hey Ryan i’ve been hoping for a time when someone would use statistics to guess the Oscars and tried it myself to no avail.
But 3 months ago, I e-mailed Nate Silver, creator of the PECOTA baseball projection system and the creator of fivethirtyeight.com where he predicted 98.7 percent of november races.
Well hopefully my e-mail had some impact because he’s predicted the big categories and I thought you and the rest of the readers might enjoy
http://nymag.com/movies/features/54335/
Anyway, thanks for listening!
some interesting lists!
haha,
Paul Outlaw: “Slumdog Millionaire, my 20th favorite movie of the year!”
Ryan Adams: “The Wrestler, my 30th favorite movie of the year!”
In unison: “Milk, The Dark Knight, Benjamin Button in the top 4!”
I have not yet seen “The Class” or “A Christmas Tale”, which will more than likely added to me list below.
Gee, I don’t even have a final top five. But if I had to make a top five it would be as follows:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Milk
3. The Wrestler
4. The Visitor
5. Man on Wire
I still have to see Synechdoche, Let the right one in, Waltz with Bashir, the Reader, Frozen River, Rachel getting married, Wendy and Lucy, Ballast, and Hunger. Yeah, I know, I suck. But my local movie theaters suck even more.
In my top ten, I would include Wall-e, the Fall, Slumdog, and Iron man.
If I put up my top ten, it will include mostly the usual suspects–films that appear on many people’s lists.
So instead, I’ll just talk a little about the two films in my top ten that don’t appear in Ryan’s list of 30.
Kung Fu Panda – a spiritual sister film to Slumdog Millionaire in its East-meets-West globalization and its fervent belief in destiny (”It is written”/”There are no accidents”). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that managed to feel so utterly American and yet so authentically Chinese at the same time. Its ravishing color palette and its judicious use of 3D-for-2D give it a look that I want to swim in. And it’s difficult to communicate the delighted surprise I felt when I realized that this computer-generated cartoon is an honest-to-goodness martial arts film.
Above all, though, I love Kung Fu Panda because it’s a sincere, unashamed celebration of Big Fat Fandom (with authentic battle DAMAGE!), and that is something to get very excited about.
I didn’t see Kung Fu Panda until after the Annies, and I’ve got to say, I’m a tiiiny bit less shocked by the sweep now that I’ve seen it. WALL-E is still the better film, I think, but Kung Fu Panda will likely see more repeat viewings from me–we’re going to be buddies, that film and I. A KFP upset at the Oscars is now one my NGNG picks, and if it happens, my champagne will stay in my mouth.
The Strangers – Having just been disappointed by the remake of Friday the 13th, I’m all the more convinced that we need horror movies like The Strangers. Marcus Nispel and his ilk have given up all hope of conjuring something truly frightening on the screen; instead, they have contented themselves with startling the audience with extremely loud noises. Well guess what? You could startle someone with a loud noise while they were watching The Care Bears. It doesn’t cut it.
Bryan Bertino understands that. In his film, it’s not the decibels that get you. It’s what you see, what you hear, and most importantly, when you see and hear it. The Strangers is a master class in timing, each crucial moment ratcheted down to within a fraction of a second. Bertino calls his movie a “terror” film rather than “horror,” and that says it. This is one of the most cannily made and effective fright flicks since 1979’s Halloween.
I could go on and on about the things that make The Strangers work so well. The opening scenes, which establish an unusual and uncomfortable context for what follows. The house, which, via lighting and circumstance, manages to feel claustrophobic without actually looking small. Those trees.
But there is one big reason why The Strangers has taken up permanent residence in a corner of my brain, and that is the final scenes. Not the very last one, so much, but the scenes just before it. Rarely have I seen such a blatant attempt in a scary movie to both have and eat the cake. And almost never have I seen it work so well. Those last few scenes are mercifully twist-free, yet they color everything that came before. I’m still haunted by them.
…So Far…
1.Wall- E
2.The Reader
3.The Dark Knight
4.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5.Zach and Miri Make a Porno
6.Gran Torino
7.Tropic Thunder
8.Doubt
9.Iron Man
10.Burn After Reading
I’m sure The Wrestler and Slumdog will make it on there when i see them
1. The Wrestler
2. WALL-E
3. Wendy and Lucy
4. Let the Right One In
5. My Winnipeg
6. Milk
7. Bigger, Stronger, Faster
8. Happy-Go-Lucky
9. The Class
10. Snow Angels
11. Pineapple Express
12. Synecdoche, New York
13. Ballast
14. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
15. The Edge of Heaven
Still need to see Synecdoche, Rachel, Wendy & Lucy, and a few others. But for now ->
Revolutionary Road
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Man on Wire
Let the Right One In
The Dark Knight
The Wrestler
The Last Mistress
Up the Yangtze
The Visitor
The Edge of Heaven
Paranoid Park
In no particular order
Traitor
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road – my number 1
Slumdog Millionaire
The Black Balloon (an Aussie film)
Ben Button
The Dark Knight (only when Heath was on screen)
Twilight (what can I say – I know it was cheesy but! Rob -sigh!)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (love Keanu)
Australia (it is shameful what the media did to this film in the USA)
Body of Lies
I love movies it is my one obsession.
I probably should have tried to find room for Kung Fu Panda, Benj.
Now you’re gonna make me go find The Strangers, a movie I’d skipped.
Reminds me. I forgot all about The Chaser.
This might be awkward for The Wrestler.
and btw, Kung Fu Panda should’ve received an Oscar nom for Best Original Score.
Rachel Getting Married
Love Songs
The Flight of the Read Balloon
Silent Light
Milk
The Edge of Heaven
Wendy and Lucy
Let the right One In
The Secret of the Grain
Gomorrah
Still Life
Frozen River
Wall e
Hunger
Doubt
Paranoid Park
Three Monkeys
Reprise
The Wrestler
Julia
The Last Mistress
Darling
Che
Tel No One
Elegy
Funny Games USA
Be Kind Rewind
…and 4 docs:
Dream of Life
Joy Division
My Winnipeg
Encounters at the Edge of the world
I have not yet seen “A Christmas Tale, or the “The Class” which will probably show up later.
1. I’ve Loved You So Long
2. The Dark Knight
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Wrestler
5. Wall-e
6. Tropic Thunder
7. In Bruges
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
9. The Bank Job
10. Pineapple Express
01. WALL-E
02. Waltz with Bashir
03. Caramel
04. Slumdog Millionaire
05. The Dark Knight
06. Let the Right One In (2008)
07. In Bruges
08. Changeling
09. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. The Fall
11. Kung Fu Panda
12. The Happening
13. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
14. Sex and the City
15. Revolutionary Road
16. Frozen River
17. The Band’s Visit
18. Milk
19. Australia
20. The Visitor
21. Doubt
22. Gran Torino
23. Burn After Reading
24. Funny Games
25. The Duchess
26. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
27. Bolt
28. The Wrestler
29. Happy-Go-Lucky
30. Rachel Getting Married
Hope you like The Strangers, Ryan. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool horror-watcher, so I may have been pre-inclined to love it.
It surprised me, though, because the ads made it look like the standard horror schlock that comes out just about every weekend. It’s better than that.
in order.
1. In Bruges
2. Milk
3. The Dark Knight
4. Wall-E
5. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
6. Gran Torino
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. The Reader
9. 21
10. The Pineapple Express
1.Milk
2.Hunger
3. Dark Knight
4. Waltz with Bashir
5.Let the Right One In
6.Gomorrah
7.Benjamin Button
8.Edge Of Heaven
9.Che
10.Wall E
11.Burn After Reading
12.Slumdog Millionaire
13.Wendy and Lucy
14.Nobel Son
15.Frost/Nixon
1. Revolutionary Road
2. Milk
3. Rachel Getting Married
4. Slumdog Millionare
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
7. Doubt
8. The Reader
9. Australia
10. Wall E
11. The Dark Knight
12. Pinapple Express
13. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
14. The Visitor
15. Quantom of Solace
16. Iron Man
17. In Bruges
18. Burn After Reading
19. Kung Fu Panda
20. Cadillac Records
There are still a bunch I want to see, aka Frozen River, Changeling, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, Happy Go Lucky, Wendy and Lucy
01. Revolutionary Road
02. Frost/Nixon
03. Doubt
04. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
05. W.
06. Burn After Reading
07. The Dark Knight
08. The Reader
09. Changeling
10. In Bruges
I like a good classy nail-biter too, Benj.
[REC] really shook me up last year.
The Strangers sounds so much like Them, I thought it was a remake. But I guess not.
Try to find The Chaser, if you haven’t yet seen it.
Drum roll please…….
10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
9. Revolutionary Road
8. Doubt
7. Slumdog Millionaire
6. Waltz with Bashir
5. Gomorrah
4. The Dark Knight
3. The Wrestler
2. Wall-E
1. Let the Right One In
Honorable Mention: Tropic Thunder, In Bruges, Happy-Go-Lucky, Rachel Getting Married, Chop Shop, Synecdoche, NY
999. Milk
1000. Babylon A.D.
here’s my list:
NOTE: I havent seen: The Reader, Syndoche, Wendy and Lucy, or Happy Go Lucky
1. The Wrestler
2. Milk
3. Doubt
4. Cloverfield
5. Religulous
6. Rachel Getting Married
7. Changeling
8. Frozen River
9. Vicky Christina Barcelona
10. Burn After Reading
11. Let The Right One In
12. Frost/Nixon
13. Revolutionary Road
14. Wall-E
15. The Strangers
16. The Visitor
17. Man on Wire
18. The Dark Knight
19. Slumdog Millionaire
20. Funny Games
My list has changed dramatically the more I think about it, but here is my top ten as of now:
1. WALL-E
2. Milk
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Let the Right One In
5. Revolutionary Road
6. The Dark Knight
7. Rachel Getting Married
8. Vicky Christina Barcelona
9. Iron Man
10. The Wrestler
And despite this being the year that I saw more movies in theaters than ever I still have a lot to see.
In order
1) Doubt
Funny Game
2) Frozen River
3) Slumdog Millionaire
4) Milk
5) Happy-Go-Lucky
6) Frost/Nixon
7) The Fall
9) Man on Wire
10) Towelhead
My list in no particular order:
1.Slumdog Millionaire
2.The Dark Knight
3.Man on Wire
4.Wall-E
5.In Bruges
6.Milk
7.Gran Torino
8.The Wrestler
9.Iron Man
10.Changeling
11.Frozen River
12.Boy in Striped Pajamas
13.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
14.Revolutionary Road
15.The Visitor
16.Hellboy II
17.Tropic Thunder
18.Role Models
19.Pineapple Express
20.The Express
21.Doubt
22.Snow Angels
23.Che
24.Frost/Nixon
25.The Reader
26.21
27.Vicky Cristina Barcelona
28.The Strangers
29.Kung Fu Panda
30.Tales of Desperaux
I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough amazing films this year to make a full top 30 list, but here are my top 15 films of the year, in order:
1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Wrestler
5. The Dark Knight
6. Frozen River
7. Let the Right One In
8. Milk
9. Rachel Getting Married
10. In Bruges
11. Waltz with Bashir
12. Pineapple Express
13. The Reader
14. Frost/Nixon
15. Doubt
1 ) Slumdog Millionaire
2 ) Milk
3 ) The Dark Knight
4 ) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5 ) The Reader
6 ) In Bruges
7 ) The Fall
8 ) Revolutionary Road
9 ) Boy A
10 ) Synecdoche New York
Ryan: I haven’t seen Them, but some of the reviews acknowledge the *ahem* influence it had on The Strangers. So your “remake” assessment was probably right.
The other thing I’m noticing while scanning the reviews at Metacritic is how stupid the objections of the panners are. One critic actually complains that there are no twists! For crying out loud. That person must not have suffered through the post-Sixth Sense glut of twist-’n'-shit like I did. Oh, and the Christian Science Monitor calls it a “gorefest.” Imagine that! The Monitor reviewing a horror movie without seeing it!
In general, the critics recognize the precision of craft on display. The ones that hate it, hate it because it’s mean. Quoth Mick LaSalle:
Here’s the tricky thing about The Strangers. Sure, it uses cinema to ends that are objectionable and vile … but it does it well, with more than usual skill.
One man’s “objectionable” is another man’s treasure, I guess.
1. Let The Right One In
2. The Wrestler
3. Synecdoche, New York
4. Milk
5. A Christmas Tale
6. Wendy and Lucy
7. The Visitor
8. Revolutionary Road
9. My Winnipeg
10. Waltz with Bashir
Honorable Mentions to Fear(s) of the Dark, Hunger, Tell No One, and Rachel Getting Married
The only movie I haven’t seen really is the Class. Oh, and Silent Light.
1. Diary of the Dead (Romero)
2. Gran Torino (Eastwood)
3. The Strangers (Bertino)
4. Paranoid Park (Van Sant)
5. Wall-E (Stanton)
6. The Happening (Shyamalan)
7. The Wrestler (Aronofsky)
8. Tropic Thunder (Stiller)
9. Changeling (Eastwood)
10. Let the Right One In (Alfredson)
11. A Girl Cut in Two (Chabrol)
12. Alice’s House (Teixeira)
13. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Allen)
14. Spped Racer (Wachowski)
15. Silent Light (Reygardas)
16. Milk (Van Sant)
17. Burn After Reading (Coens)
18. Cloverfield (Reeves)
19. Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle)
20. Pineapple Express (Gordon Green)
Top 15
1.Revolutionary Road
2.The Wrestler
3.In Bruges
4.The Reader
5.Rachel Getting Married
6.Milk
7.Vicky Cristina Barcelona
8.Wall-e
9.Doubt
10.The Dark Knight
11.Frost/Nixon
12.The Life Before Her Eyes
13.Slumdog MIllionarie
14.Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day
15.The Curious Case of Benjiman Button
And in timely fashion, Christopher appears with The Strangers at #3! Good on you, buddy!
And that’s quite a horror-friendly list overall. I’m going to pretend I don’t see The Happening on there, though.
I still haven’t caught Diary of the Dead! Must do that post-haste. Tonight, even.
ETA: I see Casey and Mike have The Strangers on their lists, too. Hooray! I may be crazy, but I’m not alone.
Ryan H. #10:
I saw that article too. I’m not sure which surprised me more: that the model predicts Henson over both Cruz and Davis, or that it shows Rourke WAY out in front of Penn.
My Top 10 for 2008 –
10. The Dark Knight
9. The Fall
8. Slumdog Millionaire
7. In Bruges
6. The Edge of Heaven
5. Shotgun Stories
4. The Band’s Visit
3. Paranoid Park
2. Happy-Go-Lucky
1. WALL•E
Runners Up –
Still Life
Wendy and Lucy
Flight of the Red Balloon
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. WALL-E
3. Paranoid Park
4. Milk
5. Doubt
6. The Dark Knight
7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
8. Kabluey
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10.The Duchess
#1:
In Bruges
Top 10:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Fall
Happy-Go-Lucky
Hunger
Let the Right One In
Man on Wire
WALL•E
Waltz With Bashir
The Wrestler
Other Great Works Just Outside My Top 10:
A Christmas Tale
The Class
The Dark Knight
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Paranoid Park
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
Tell No One
Wendy and Lucy
1. Slumdog
2. Synechdoche
3. Happy-Go-Lucky
4. Rachel Getting Married
5. The Class
6. Wendy and Lucy
7. Doubt
8. Still Walking
9. Milk
10. Ballast
In alphabetical order;
Australia
Blindness
Cloverfield
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Frost/Nixon
Ghost Town
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
And the absolute best – In Bruges
Honorable Mentions: Iron Man, Speed Racer, Wall-E, Tell No One, Bolt, The Strangers, The Wrestler, Changeling, Funny Games, Snow Angels and Definitely, Maybe.
Wendy and Lucy is not that good! Michelle Williams was fantastic in it, but god was that movie boring!
Good list, Ryan! There are several good docs I might add to your list–don’t know if you saw them…Flow: For the Love of Water, Surfwise, Dear Zachary, and something else that has momentarily escaped me.
And if you haven’t seen Shotgun Stories yet, remedy that now. As a Southern boy, I feel sure you’ll appreciate it.
Movies I expected to hate but loved:
In Bruges
Burn after Reading
Frozen River
My Winnipeg
Movies I expected to love but hated:
The Dark Knight
W.
Mamma Mia!
Meh:
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Couldn’t bring myself to see:
21
Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Ballast
The Reader (yet)
30. The Duchess
29. Changeling
28. Gomorrah
27. A Christmas Tale
26. Pineapple Express
25. Wendy and Lucy
24. In Bruges
23. Borderline
22. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
21. The Edge of Heaven
20. My Winnipeg
19. Wall-E
18. The Fall
17. Paranoid Park
16. Encounters at the End of the World
15. I’ve Loved You So Long
14. The Reader
13. It’s Not Me, I Swear
12. Revolutionary Road
11. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about His Father
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
09. Waltz With Bashir
08. Man on Wire
07. The Wrestler
06. The Class
05. Rachel Getting Married
04. Let the Right One In
03. Slumdog Millionaire
02. The Dark Knight
01. Milk
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
I’ve Loved You So Long
The Dark Knight
In Bruges
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
The Wrestler
The Visitor
Happy Go Lucky
PS. Thanks, Ryan, for a photo in which GVS doesn’t look his usual schlubby self.
I can’t seem to share others’ love for The Wrestler, Wall-E, Slumdog, Benjamin Button and The Dark Knight. Though they’re good movies, they all got a “B” from me and ended up in the bottom half of my list. Admittedly, I don’t see many movies that I expect to be crummy, so my list only extends to a “C-” (Doubt, lol).
Anywho, my top 20 films for 2008:
1. In Bruges
2. Frozen River
3. Milk
4. The Edge of Heaven
5. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
6. The Visitor
7. Rachel Getting Married
8. Waltz with Bashir
9. My Winnipeg
10. The Reader
11. Wendy and Lucy
12. Burn After Reading
13. A Christmas Tale
14. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
15. I’ve Loved You So Long
16. My Blueberry Nights
17. Encounters at the End of the World
18. Flight of the Red Balloon
19. The Class
20. Love Songs
I’ve only seen 34 movies this year, so here’s the list, in order:
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Dark Knight
3. Frozen River
4. Frost/Nixon
5. Let the Right One In
6. I’ve Loved You So Long
7. Burn After Reading
8. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
9. Rachel Getting Married
10. The Visitor
11. Revolutionary Road
12. Milk
13. Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway
14. Happy-Go-Lucky
15. Wall-E
16. Pineapple Express
17. The Reader
18. Waltz With Bashir
19. Doubt
20. Changeling
21. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
22. Tropic Thunder
23. W.
24. Religulous
25. Bolt
26. Synecdoche, New York
27. Iron Man
28. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
29. The Duchess
30. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
31. Gran Torino
32. Wendy and Lucy
33. Redbelt
34. The Wrestler
Still need to see Elegy, Ghost Town, Gomorrah, In Bruges, Kung Fu Panda, Still Life, Edge of Heaven, and Mongol (IMDB puts the last three as prior year releases, though). And hopefully any other really good ones from 2008, I’ll discover over the years.
Surprising enough, The Not so curious case of Benjamin’s buttons is in a lot of people’s list.
Well, my favorite movie of the year is Transamerica. Oh wait! this is not 2005. Oh well! I’ll go with Rev. Road ( an underrated masterpiece which should come as no surprise considering the type of society we live in today)
1. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2. The Wrestler
3. Revolutionary Road
4. Frozen River
5. I’ve Loved You So Long
(not totally sure of the top 5’s order, but definitely my 5 faves)
6. Edge of Heaven
7. In Bruges
8. Wendy and Lucy
9. Rachel Getting Married
10. Slumdog Millionaire
From my website, my top ten (as of mid-January) was:
10. Man on Wire
9. Funny Games
8. Frozen River
7. Son of Rambow
6. Speed Racer
5. Milk
4. Tell No One
3. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Dark Knight
1. Rachel Getting Married
That list remains pretty accurate as of right now, but I did see The Wrestler after making the list and would certainly have put it on there otherwise. And it would be way up there, considering I now regard my three favourite films of 2008 as The Dark Knight, Rachel Getting Married and The Wrestler. I’d probably still keep Rachel at no. 1, but The Wrestler would likely slip into the no. 2 spot.
I also recently saw Revolutionary Road and I now have lots of love for that movie. I don’t think it would infiltrate this top ten, but it would definitely be on a top fifteen. And Let the Right One In deserves some love, too. And I think I’m one of the few people who adored CJ7 in all its crazy Stephen Chow glory.
But I still have a few to catch from 2008 that sadly passed me by, such as Synecdoche, New York, Silent Light, and Wendy and Lucy.
In no particular order-Movies I Would Watch More Than Once
The Edge of Heaven, The Visitor, Milk, In Bruges, I’ve Loved You So Long, Happy Go Lucky, The Class, Rachel Getting Married, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Wrestler, Last Chance Harvey, Definitely Maybe, The Reader, parts of Revolutionary Road, The Dark Knight
Two popular movies I didn’t get: Burn After Reading, Wall-E
Haven’t seen: Waltz with Bashir, Benjamin Button
My 5 best from 2007: 1. The Kite Runner, 2. No Country for Old Men, 3. In the Valley of Elah, 4. Atonement, 5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
My best 5 from 2006: 1. Apocalypto, 2. The Pursuit of Hapyness, 3. The Departed, 4. Little Children, 5. The Last King of Scotland and United 93.
My best 5 from 2005: 1. Crash, 2. Brokeback Mountain, 3. Cinderella Man, 4. Munich, 5. Pride and Prejudice
I still have to see 6 movies from 2008: Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, The Wrestler, Doubt, Anne Hathaway, but so far my best from this year are: 1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2. The Dark Knight, 3. Revolutionay Road, 4. Wall-E, 5. Slumdog Millionaire.
I do know yet which is the best film among those nominated in the last four years (2005 to 2008). But if I consider all the Best Picture nominees in this decade, I choose “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”. If I add all the 50 nominated films of the 90’s, my selection goes to “Schindler’s List” and “Dances with Wolves”. If the list of Best Pic winners is increased with those of the 80’s, then my preference is for “Amadeus”. Finally, considering the last 195 Best Pic nominees since the 70’s, then my favorite of all is “The Godfather”. I could add past decades but the result will not change.
I posted my list, but I can’t see it on the site. When I try to post it again, it tells me I have already done so.
Am I going craaaaazy…?
Personal Top 30
1. Wall-E – ****
2. The Edge of Heaven
3. The Class
4. Trouble the Water
5. Let the Right One In
6. Man on Wire
7. The Visitor – ***1/2
8. Slumdog Millionaire
9. I’ve Loved You So Long
10. The Reader
11. Milk
12. A Christmas Tale
13. Secret of the Grain
14. Waltz with Bashir
15. Encounters at the End of the World
16. Kung Fu Panda (saw it pre-Annies, loved it, but its no Wall-E)
17. Flight of the Red Balloon
18. The Dark Knight – ***
19. Happy-Go-Lucky
20. In Bruges
21. Paranoid Park
22. The Wrestler
23. Frost/Nixon
24. Revolutionary Road
25. Iron Man
26. Che (1st 1/2)
27. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
28. Curious Case of Benjamin Button
29. Wendy and Lucy
30. Tropic Thunder
I count Mongol as 2007, otherwise it would be around #15.
Great films seen: my top 5.
Best Actress – Sally Hawkins & Kristin Scott Thomas
Best Supporting Actress – Kate Winslet (Reader)
Best Actor – Richard Jenkins
Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger
Best Original Screenplay – Wall-E
Best Adapted Screenplay – The Class
Best Director – Fatih Akim – Edge of Heaven
Best Acting Ensembles – Milk and A Christmas Tale
Cinematography – Let the Right One In
Film Editing – Slumdog Millionaire
Score – Slumdog Millionare
Art Direction – Benjamin Button
Costumes – The Duchess
Sound – Dark Knight
Sound Editing – Iron Man
Visuals – Benjamin Button
Makeup – Benjamin Button
Song – either The Wrestler or Trouble the Water
My top 5 movies of last year:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Revolutionary Road
3. Gran Torino
4. Wall-E
5. The Wrestler
I think I’ve seen mostly everything released in 2008:
Ten Best Films
1- The Dark Knight
2- Milk
3- Slumdog Millionaire
4- Frost/Nixon
5- Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6- Frozen River
7- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
8- Waltz with Bashir
9- Let the Right One In
10- Pineapple Express
Runners-up: Tell No One, WALL-E, Doubt, The Class, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Visitor, I’ve Loved You So Long, Revolutionary Road, Tropic Thunder, Defiance
Best Director – Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight)
Best Actor – Sean Penn (Milk)
Best Actress – Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Sup Actor – Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Sup Actress – Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Yes, you won’t see The Reader anywhere here on my lists… Kate should have been nominated for Road… The Reader is the most overrated film of the year… sorry Reader fans, but deep down it’s anti-Semetic and bascially excuses the German people’s culpability via a story of a pedophile…lovely.
My top 5 films of the year:
1. Wall-E
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Happy-Go-Lucky
4. The Dark Knight
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I just got back from the reader. It sucked. I’m shocked that anybody liked it, let alone put it in their top ten. Also, Winslet’s performance is nothing special.
The Top Twenty-five Films of 2008:
25. Gran Torino
24. Elegy
23. Burn After Reading
22. Frost/Nixon
21. Role Models
20. Tell No One
19. Frozen River
18. Pineapple Express
17. The Visitor
16. Hamlet 2
15. American Teen
14. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
13. Milk
12. Doubt
11. Changeling
10. Revolutionary Road
9. Let the Right One In
8. Bigger, Stronger, Faster
7. Waltz With Bashir
6. The Wackness
5. In Bruges
4. Rachel Getting Married
3. The Dark Knight
2. The Wrestler
1. Slumdog Millionaire
1. Milk
2. Revolutionary Road
3. The Reader
4. The Wrestler
5. The Dark Knight
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Wall-E
8. The Visitor
9. In Bruges
Top 15 Movies of 2008
15. Che
14. The Wrestler
13. Frost/Nixon
12. Boy in Striped Pajamas
11. Changeling
10. In Bruges
9. The Visitor
8. Iron Man
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. Revolutionary Road
5. Wall-E
4. Milk
3. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Dark Knight
1. Gran Torino
great suggestions, jennybee, especially since I have Flow, Surfwise and Shotgun Stories around here someplace. While you’re psychically tuned in, I wish your cinematic GPS could help me find the discs.
(Saw Dear Zachary, twice. Loved it.)
1. The Dark Knight = Shakespeare does comic books
2. Frost/Nixon = Shakespeare does 20th Century politics
3, 4. Iron Man, Tropic Thunder = Nice that the thespic genius finally got himself together. But he is a damned genius.
5, 6. Frozen River, The Visitor = Entertaining and enlightening movies which also humanize the issue of illegal immigration without excusing it, but who cares since America doesn’t go see “issue” movies”
7. W. = Entertaining and enlightening movie that actually gets you pulling for the worst President in history without excusing him. Too bad they didn’t have a scene where he beats Gore in the 2000 debates; that might have been fun.
8. The Lucky Ones = The best fiction film to date about the Iraq war is funny, human, respectful, non-jingoistic, treats our heroic soldiers as complex people instead of dehumanized psychos, and gives Tim Robbins one of the best roles of his career. Like all other Iraq war movies, though, nobody saw it.
9. Doubt = if by complaining that it looks like a staged play you mean it is well-written and acted then you’re right.
10. Transsiberian = the best film Hitchcock never got around to making but would have if he were alive and in the indie film world. And the only good performance by Ben Kingsley this year!
11-14. Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, The Reader = 4 of the strangest picks ever for Best Picture nominees in one of the most boring Oscar races in history. go figure. At least they’re all good movies.
15 – 18. JCVD, Stuck, Felon, Spiral = Four challenging, exciting, terrific indies movies that missed Oscar contention the way this year’s frontrunner almost did!
19. Defiance = A perfectly good Ed Zwick war movie that people probably would have gone to see in the fall if they’d released it, meaning it would have had the required traction to actually get some nominations.
20, 21. Gran Torino = A perfectly good Clint Eastwood movie that was released too late to get any traction for the Oscars but everybody still went to see it anyhow… imagine what would have happened if it had come out a month earlier.
22. Quantum of Solace = Great action, great women, great opening, great song PLUS good writing… is there some reason they couldn’t have given Pierce this level of quality, because I’m sure he would have appreciated it!
23. Prince Caspian = the most technically terrific movie to make over $100 million that apparently nobody in the tech department went to see. And like so many other films this year, it had a perfectly good closing song on its credits, so don’t tell me you couldn’t find two other nominees.
24. Wall-E = Pretty good, but like the Academy, I’m just not that into animated movies.
25, 26. Vantage Point, The Strangers = Two virtuoso pieces of editing ignored by the Academy, but snubs in the editing category aren’t really noticed except on websites like these, and then not for movies like these.
27. Wanted = If you really needed to nominate Angelina this year, come on, this is the shit she does better than anybody.
-12. Slumdog
Personally, I’d add “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father” to the list.
“Up the Yangtze” is a wonderful choice, Ryan.
Dark Knight
Tropic Thunder
Wall-E
Slumdog Millionaire
Frost/Nixon
Role Models
Iron Man
Step Brothers
Flash of Genius
Gran Torino
30? Seriously? That seems excessive — and arbitrary. Why not 50? Why not all of them? (Except for maybe Speed Racer. That one definitely did not matter.)
My Top Ten Best of 2008
1. Milk
2. WALL-E
3. Frost/Nixon
4. The Wrestler
5. The Dark Knight
6. Gran Torino
7. Tropic Thunder
8. Appaloosa
9. Wanted
10. The Reader
My Top Ten Worst of 2008
1. Miracle at St. Anna
2. Mamma Mia!
3. Speed Racer
4. Hamlet 2
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
6. The Happening
7. The Day the Earth Stood Still
8. The Life Before Her Eyes
9. 10,000 B.C.
10. Rachel Getting Married
@ Gentle Benj
“it uses cinema to ends that are objectionable and vile … but it does it well, with more than usual skill.”
ha, sounds delicious.
Top 15 Best of 2008
1. The Dark Knight
2. The Wrestler
3. WALL-E
4. Man On Wire
5. Milk
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Revolutionary Road
8. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
9. In Bruges
10. Tropic Thunder
11. Rachel Getting Married
12. Taxi to the Dark Side
13. Dear Zachary: A Letter To a Son About His Father
14. Iron Man
15. JCVD
@ jms67
“30? Seriously? That seems excessive”
You have the option to stop reading after 10.
Top 15 Worst of 2008
1. Meet the Spartans
2. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
3. The Happening
4. The Ruins
5. Prom Night
6. The Strangers
7. The Babysitters
8. 27 Dresses
9. College Road Trip
10. Fool’s Gold
11. Jumper
12. Made of Honor
13. Over Her Dead Body
14. What Happens In Vegas…
15. Chapter 27
#76- How dare you list Rachel Getting Married as one of the year’s worst. It was a smooth, jazz-like celebration of the dysfunctional nature of the family with exquisite performances from Hathaway, Winger, and the underrated–
When the people praising a movie sound like this, you know it’s bad! Good pick for your worst list!
Okay, since my list is clearly not here (despite the server telling me it is), I’ll post it again (for the first time). My top ten, posted on my site about a month ago, is this:
10. Man on Wire
9. Funny Games
8. Frozen River
7. Son of Rambow
6. Speed Racer
5. Milk
4. Tell No One
3. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Dark Knight
1. Rachel Getting Married
If you wish to read about my reasoning behind these picks, just click on my name and look for the link to my Best and Worst lists on the Home page.
Anyways, even now, having seen a handful more movies from 2008, the list remains almost the same. The one movie sadly missing for me is The Wrestler, which I saw after making the list and would otherwise have definitely been on there. And it would have been way up there. As in, top three. I think Rachel stays at no. 1, but The Wrestler would probably slip into the no. 2 spot. But, just as with last year, my top three favs of the year are very, very close. For the record, my top three last year was Once, There Will Be Blood, and No Country for Old Men.
Also, I would give honourable mention to a handful of other movies from this year, such as Revolutionary Road, The Visitor, and CJ7 (love that Stephen Chow!).
1. Milk
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Wall-E
4. Australia
5. Revolutionary Road
6. The Wrestler
7. The Dark Knight
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. Gran Torino
Movies I haven’t seen: Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, The Visitor, Changeling, Let The Right One In, The Class
Ten best
1. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (One of the best comedies of all time)
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Changeling
4. Cloverfield
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. The Dark Knight
7. Iron Man
8. Defintely, Maybe
9. Pineapple Express
10. Traitor
A handful of notables (in rough order or preference):
Wall-E
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Synecdoche, New York
Rachel Getting Married
Milk
Happy-Go-Lucky
The Dark Knight
Paranoid Park
Doubt
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Wrestler
Burn After Reading
Frozen River
Boy A
Pineapple Express
A Christmas Tale
Iron Man
Good, but Overrated:
Wendy and Lucy
Not Bad, but Come On:
Slumdog Millionaire
My Winnipeg
Gran Torino
Still Need to See:
Benjamin Button
The Reader
Frost/Nixon
The Class
Revolutionary Road
Trouble the Water
others….
Here’s my top 30 for the year. And yes, that is Forgetting Sarah Marshall ranked above Benjamin Button.
1. WALL-E
2. The Dark Knight
3. Happy-Go-Lucky
4. The Class
5. The Wrestler
6. Waltz with Bashir
7. Milk
8. Let the Right One In
9. Rachel Getting Married
10. Gomorrah
11. Slumdog Millionaire
12. Paranoid Park
13. A Christmas Tale
14. Man on Wire
15. In Bruges
16. Wendy & Lucy
17. Frozen River
18. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
19. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
20. Kung Fu Panda
21. Reprise
22. Iron Man
23. The Visitor
24. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
25. Revolutionary Road
26. Frost/Nixon
27. Tropic Thunder
28. Gran Torino
29. The Reader
30. Doubt
Ryan — LOL! Actually, I did stop reading after 10. But seriously, I like your work very much. I do. File my complaint under “g” for gentle jab.
1. The Dark Knight
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. Wall-E
4. Milk
5. The Wrestler
6. Let the Right One In
7. Burn After Reading
8. Man on Wire
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10.Frozen River
1. Wall-E
2. Let the Right One In
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Milk
5. The Wrestler
6. Revolutionary Road
7. In Bruges
8. Doubt
9. The Visitor
10. I’ve Loved You So Long
Honorable mention: Kung Fu Panda, Fear(s) of the Dark, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hamlet 2, The Reader, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Frozen River, The Class, and Waltz With Bashir
These are ALL irrelevant because 2008 was a TERRIBLE year for film!
ha, that’s ok, jms67. You make a valid point. 30 titles is a big tent. I think part of the reason I wanted to do that was to try to help dial back some of the attacks on movies some of us love (and some of us don’t). Expanding the lists to 20 or 30 we can all see the agreeable overlaps we have with each other, and the disagreeable differences don’t loom so large.
As for gentle jabs, another function of long lists is to gently diss a movie without coming off as a hater. Like blarsenusc did a few lines up: “And yes, that is Forgetting Sarah Marshall ranked above Benjamin Button.” See? That’s not hatin’ on Benjamin Button — it’s just lovin’ 18 other movies more!
My list was just a reminder of 30 worthy movies that have obsessed us, infuriated us, and entranced us over the past year. I might even have found room to mention Australia, Frost/Nixon and W. if I’d gone for a Top 40. But that would’ve been excessive.
2007 was WAAAAY BETTER
my top 10 is
Honorable mention: Gomorrah
10. Wall E
9.Australia
8.Tropic Thunder
7.JCVD
6.Vicky Cristina Barcelona
5.Milk
4.Revolutionary Road
3.The Wrestler
2.The Dark Knight
1.Slumdog Millionaire
Is anyone live-blogging The Costumers Designer’s Guild Awards right now? Why can’t I find any up to the minute coverage?
Does The Duchess or will Curious Case take it?
- Happy-Go-Lucky
- I’ve Loved You So Long
- Let the Right One In
- The Reader
- Revolutionary Road
- JCVD
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Synecdoche, New York
- The Dark Knight
- WALL-E
- Doubt
- The Wrestler
- Iron Man
- A Christmas Tale
- Definitely, Maybe
- Speed Racer
- W.
- Che
- RocknRolla
- Zack and Miri Make a Porno
- Wendy and Lucy
My top 10:
MAN ON WIRE
THE WRESTLER
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
THE VISITOR
I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG
ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
HAPPY GO LUCKY
CHE
TELL NO ONE
FROST/NIXON
My worst five:
RIGHTEOUS KILL
CHARLIE BARTLETT
DECEPTION
TOWELHEAD
SAVAGE GRACE
Here are some good films .
In my opinion , the best films of 2008 .
Don’t know how many and I don’t really care ,
I liked all of them and don’t see the need
to fit them into a nice round number like 10 .
In No Order ….
_========_
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Doubt
Milk
The Reader
Encounters at the End of the World.
Revolutionary Road
Rachel Getting Married
“Slumdog Millionaire” –
LOVED this film .
Far and away , the best film of the year , IMO .
A beautiful , vibrant , fresh and exciting film .
Shotgun Stories
Indiana Jones 4
WALL*E.
My Winnipeg
Synecdoche, New York
Changeling
Trouble the Water
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
Waltz with Bashir
The Band’s Visit
The Wrestler
Man On Wire
In Bruges
And
The Dark Knight .
_=======_
I Thought it was a good year , plenty of nice movies .
There are a lot of movies I didn’t see, and a lot more that I thought were overrated, so I’ll list only ten.
The Dark Knight
Milk
The Visitor
Trouble the Water
The Wrestler
Wall-E
Frozen River
The Class
The Order of Myths
Slumdog Millionaire
These are my top ten:
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
Changeling
Milk
Seven Pounds
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Gran Torino
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Burn After Reading
Vantage Point
I put all the movies I’ve seen this year in favorite order on my livejournal thingie. I’m sure I’ve forgotten to stick a few I’ve seen recently in there but they wouldn’t have made my top ten so I think this is safe for now.
http://starshine-3.livejournal.com/29380.html#cutid1
Obviously Indina Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull belongs on that list. And it’s a damn fine action/adventure movie.
In order
Milk & The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (cannot decide between the two)
WALL-E
Slumdog Millionaire
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Wrestler
Slumdog Millionaire
The Visitor
Synecdoche, New York
In Bruges
The Edge of Heaven
Happy-Go-Lucky
I’ve Loved You So Long
The Dark Knight
Have yet to have seen The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Changeling, Gran Torino, Frozen River, Man on Wire, Waltz with Bashir, Let the Right One In, and a few others I can’t remember
My list of the best of 2008 in order:
My Winnipeg
In Bruges
The Dark Night
Happy-Go-Lucky
Revolutionary Road
The Reader
Australia
Waltz with Bashir
Hunger
The Duchess
Wendy and Lucy
Rachel Getting Married
Burn After Reading
Defiance
Passchendaele
Nice list, Ryan. There are a few on there I have yet to see. Some of the films this year slipped past me and are in theatre-to-DVD limbo. My list kind of fluctuates as time goes on. Some stick with you and others fade. My quarter’s worth, for now:
Milk
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Revolutionary Road
The Wrestler
Slumdog Millionaire
Man on Wire
The Reader
Rachel Getting Married
Let the Right One In
Frozen River
Doubt
The Visitor
I Loved You So Long
Encounters at the End of the World
Synecdoche, NY
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir
Frost/Nixon
In Brugues
Happy-Go-Lucky
Snow Angels
The Class
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Fall
1. Revolutionary Road
2. The Wrestler
3. Man on Wire
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. Doubt
6. Let the Right One In
7. Milk
8. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. Rachel Getting Married
HONORABLE MENTION:
The Visitor
The Dark Knight
Burn After Reading
The Reader
Synecdoche, New York
WALL-E
Trouble the Water
In Bruges
Iron Man
NOT SEEN BUT REALLY WANT TO:
I’ve Loved You So Long
Happy-Go-Lucky
Waltz With Bashir
Up the Yangtze
Encounters at the Edge of the World
My Winnipeg
Wendy and Lucy
Flight of the Red Balloon
Frozen River
Paranoid Park
my personal favorites
1. The Reader
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. I’ve Loved You So Long
4. Milk
5. Frozen River
6. Happy-Go-Lucky
7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. Revolutionary Road
10. Let the Right One In
11. The Fall
12. Doubt
13. Benjamin Button
14. The Wrestler
15. Defiance
16. Nothing But the Truth
17. Paranoid Park
18. Flight of the Red Balloon
19. Australia
20. Cloverfield (seriously)
I actually didn’t think it was a bad year for movies. There were a lot of good to very good movies. If anything, I think this year may have been lacking a handful of clearly spectactular, timeless movies. Here’s my top 10
1. Milk
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Dark Knight
4. The Wrestler
5. Rachel Getting Married
6. Doubt
7. Wall-E
8. Benjamin Button
9. Gran Torino
10. Australia (yup…I know I’m practically alone on this one, but I loved it)
The one that I keep seeing pop up on people’s lists that I completely, totally hated was In Bruges. I enjoy dark comedy and drama, but man…I just thought it sucked. I guess that’s the beauty of everyone’s personal taste being different.
My two cents:
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. The Wrestler
4. Body of Lies
5. Milk
6. Changeling
7. Doubt
8. Gran Torino
9. Frost/Nixon
10. Dark Knight
1. The Dark Knight
2. The Wrestler
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Wall-E
5. Iron Man
6. Gran Torino
7. Tropic Thunder
8. Milk
9. Man On Wire
10. Stepbrothers
My Top Ten
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. WALL-E
3. The Dark Knight
4. Ben Buttons
5. Frost/Nixon
6. Revolutionary Road
7. Doubt
8. I.O.U.S.A. (Please see this very important film!)
9. (tie) Gran Torino and The Visitor
10. U2-3D
‘unofficial’ number 11: Man on Wire
Random Honorable Mention:
Cloverfield, Reprise, Burn After Reading, Vicky Christina Barcelona, A Christmas Tale, Blindsight, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Trouble the Water, The Wrestler, Son of Rambow, Miracle at St. Anna (ok, once I admit I actually liked this movie, I need to stop)
Haven’t see Frozen River, Happy Go Lucky, Rachel Getting Married, Let the Right One In, Syndoche NY, or Gomorrah
Didn’t care for Milk or The Reader
I ended up doing 40 movies. Although there are 4 movies I REALLY want to see that I missed unfortunately (Ballast, A Christmas Tale, Hunger and I’ve Loved You So Long). Here’s my current list though:
1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Waltz With Bashir
5. The Wrestler
6. Tell No One
7. The Visitor
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. The Class
10. In Bruges
11. Iron Man
12. Synecdoche, New York
13. Pineapple Express
14. The Signal
15. Speed Racer
16. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
17. Tropic Thunder
18. The Reader
19. Boy A
20. Let The Right One In
21. Milk
22, Be Kind, Rewind
23. The Edge Of Heaven
24. Choke
25. Gran Torino
26. Cassandra’s Dream
27. Frost/Nixon
28. Nothing But The Truth
29. Revolutionary Road
30. JCVD
31. Valkyrie
32. Appaloosa
33. Role Models
34. Zach And Miri Make A Porno
35. Snow Angels
36. Ghost Town
37. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
38. Chop Shop
39. Gomorra
40. Hamlet 2
DOCUMENTARIES:
1. Man On Wire
2. Trouble The Water
3. Religulous
4. Encounters At The End Of The World
5. Standard Operating Procedure
I also liked The Strangers, actually. The fave ones that are on my mind now would be: Rachel Getting Married, Revolutionary Road, Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Hunger, Let the Right One In, In Bruges, Happy Go Lucky, Frozen River, Che, The Visitor, The Wrestler, Wendy and Lucy, Milk.
I haven’t seen a lot though: Ballast, the foreign films, the docus…
[...] here: 30 Movies that Mattered in 2008 Share and [...]
My top 15 so far:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. The Wrestler
5. Revolutionary Road
6. Gran Torino
7. Let the Right One In
8. Burn After Reading
9. Frost/Nixon
10. Wall-E
11. Iron Man
12. The Reader
13. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
14. Milk
15. Pineapple Express
I have yet to see Doubt, Rachel Getting Married, Synecdoche NY, and In Bruges.
Top 15 of 2008
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Dark Knight
3. Milk
4. Gran Torino
5. Wall-E
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Revolutionary Road
8. Waltz With Bashir
9. Changeling
10. In Bruges
11. The Boy in Striped Pajamas
12. Iron Man
13. The Visitor
14. The Miracle at St. Anna
15. The Wrestler
I’m glad you put Up the Yangtze on your list, Ryan. I feel like it’s been hugely overlooked by the documentary committee for the Oscars.
my day off. saw 3 movies today.
MILK, SLUMDOG, THE READER.
saw BEN BUTTON last week.
lovely, impressive, but not one that stays
with you.
jeez, talk about overhype on SLUMDOG.
it was good, but COME ON!!
you folks that cry “overrated” on
movies like AMERICAN BEAUTY and
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE will have a new
howler in a couple of years in DOG.
of the noms, MILK seems to be the most
effective and accomplished American
film this year (next to WALL-E).
it won’t win, but it would be great if it did.
and not as a kickback to Prop. 9 or
BROKEBACK’s snub. MILK is great on its own.
and Penn should be knighted for
his tour de force.
i’d comment on FROST/NIXON
but it’s disappeared from screens
in Seattle. so much for the notion
of Seattle being so artsy-fartsy
and progressive. and it’s Ron Howard,
for crying out loud.
1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Milk
5. Frost/Nixon
6. Rachel Getting Married
7. The Wrestler
8. Burn After Reading
9. Tropic Thunder
10. Slumdog Millionaire
[...] • Ryan Adams eschews the usual “top 10 list” and instead cranks out a list of the 30 films that mattered to him the most in 2008. [Awards Daily] [...]
Tarsem’s THE FALL (****)
Darren Aronofsky’s THE WRESTLER (****)
David Fincher’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (****)
Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (****)
Thomas Alfredson’s LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (****)
Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT (****)
Charlie Kaufman’s SYNECDOCHE, NY (****)
Andrew Stanton’s WALL*E (****)
Jonathan Demme’s RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (****)
Clint Eastwood’s GRAN TORINO (****)
Joel & Ethan Coen’s BURN AFTER READING (****)
David Gordon Green’s SNOW ANGELS (****)
James Marsh’s MAN ON WIRE (****)
Sam Mendes’ REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (****)
Martin David Gordon Green’s PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (****)
McDonagh’s IN BRUGES (****)
Werner Herzog’s ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (****)
Ben Stiller’s TROPIC THUNDER (****)
Mike Leigh’s HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (****)
Clint Eastwood’s CHANGELING (****)
Matt Reeves’ CLOVERFIELD (****)
Marc Forster’s QUANTUM OF SOLACE (****)
Martin Scorsese’s SHINE A LIGHT (****)
Stephen Daldry’s THE READER (****)
John Patrick Shanley’s DOUBT (****)
John Crowley’s BOY A (****)
Alan Ball’s TOWELHEAD (****)
Roger Donaldson’s THE BANK JOB (****)
Stephen Walker’s YOUNG @ HEART (****)
Kurt Kuenne’s DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER (****)
Kimberly Peirce’s STOP-LOSS (****)
Jay Roach’s RECOUNT (****)
Tom McCarthy’s THE VISITOR (****)
Chris Bell’s BIGG ER, STRONGER, FASTER (****)
Alex Holdridge’s IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS (****)
Ed Zwick’s DEFIANCE (***1/2)
Ridley Scott’s BODY OF LIES (***1/2)
Peter Berg’s HANCOCK (***1/2)
Bryan Singer’s VALKYRIE (***1/2)
Ron Howard’s FROST/NIXON (***1/2)
Gus Van Sant’s MILK (***1/2)
Ed Harris’ APPALOOSA (***1/2)
Gus Van Sant’s PARANOID PARK (***1/2)
Kevin Smith’s ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO (***1/2)
Jon Favreau’s IRON MAN (***1/2)
Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (***1/2)
Timur Bekmembatov’s WANTED (***1/2)
Adam Brooks’ DEFINITELY, MAYBE (***1/2)
Nick Broomfield’s THE BATTLE FOR HADITHA (***1/2)
Nanette Burnstein’s AMERICAN TEEN (***1/2)
Woody Allen’s CASSANDRA’S DREAM (***1/2)
Baltasar Kormakur’s JAR CITY (***1/2)
Brad Andersen’s TRANSSIBERIAN (***1/2)
Errol Morris’ STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (***1/2)
Jose Padhilla’s ELITE SQUAD (***1/2)
Olivier Assayas’ BOARDING GATE (***1/2)
Paul Weiland’s SIXTY-SIX (***1/2)
Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s TRAITOR (***1/2)
David Mamet’s REDBELT (***)
Baz Lurhman’s AUSTRALIA (***)
Oliver Stone’s W (***)
D.J. Caruso’s EAGLE EYE (***)
Bharart Nalluri’s MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY (***)
Louis Letterier’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK (***)
Michael Patrick King’s SEX AND THE CITY (***)
Ira Sach’s MARRIED LIFE (***)
Guillermo Del Toro’s HELLBOY 2 (***)
Nick Stoller’s FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (***)
Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo’s INSIDE (***)
Hammer & Tongs’ SON OF RAMBOW (***)
Andrew Fleming’s HAMLET 2 (***)
David Koepp’s GHOST TOWN (***)
Anne Fletcher’s 27 DRESSES (***)
Zak Penn’s THE GRAND (***)
Jonathan Levine’s THE WACKNESS (**1/2)
Chris Carter’s THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE (**1/2)
David Wain’s ROLE MODELS (**1/2)
Sly Stallone’s RAMBO (**1/2)
Mark Osbourne’s KUNG FU PANDA (**1/2)
Mitchell Lichenstein’s TEETH (**1/2)
Noam Murro’s SMART PEOPLE (**1/2)
Doug Liman’s JUMPER (**)
Fred Wolf’s THE HOUSE BUNNY (**)
Kent Alterman’s SEMI-PRO (**)
Pete Travis’ VANTAGE POINT (**)
Michael McCullers’ BABY MAMA (**)
Steve Conrad’s THE PROMOTION (*1/2)
Peter Segal’s GET SMART (*1/2)
M. Night Shymalan’s THE HAPPENING (ZERO)
Jon Avnet’s RIGHTEOUS KILL (ZERO)
1. Rachel Getting Married
2. Milk
3. Man on Wire
4. Frozen River
5. Let the Right One In
6. Doubt
7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
8. Gran Torino
9. Paranoid Park
10. Snow Angels
11. Revolutionary Road
12. The Wrestler
13. Australia
14. In Bruges
15. Roman de Gare
16. Son of Rambow
17. Burn After Reading
18. The Reader
19. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
20. Happy-Go-Lucky
21. Tell No One
22. WALL-E
23. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
24. Towelhead
25. Up the Yangtze
26. The Dark Knight
27. Surfwise
28. The Secret Life of Bees
29. Slumdog Millionaire
30. Days and Clouds
Let’s do the over rated and over hyped movies…
While Slumdog will win the Best Picture Oscar it’s not that great of a film a la Crash, American Beauty, Titanic, Ghandi, Chariots of Fire…movies really NOT worthy of the Best Picture Oscar.
What is all the fuss about Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei? Big bloody deal. A crap film with crap actors.
Richard Jenkins is far more worthy of the Oscar as is Penelope Cruz than Rourke.
I agree with the comment about Benjamin Button that it “doesn’t stick with you”, kinda like Forrest Gump. But…how does the movie get 13 nominations and not one for Cate Blanchett? Weird.
To me the biggest snubs are no Dark Knight for Picture or Chris Nolan for Best Director…
right now, sixteen come to mind:
1. happy-go-lucky
2. wall-e
3. helen
4. still life
5. tulpan
6. reprise
7. frost/nixon
8. paranoid park
9. everlasting moments
10. with a little help from myself
11. cj7
12. slumdog millionaire
13. the good, the bad, and the weird
14. profit motive and the whispering wind
15. ballast
16. the unforeseen
Iron Man
Hunger
Wendy & Lucy
Let the Right One In
The Wrestler
Vicly Cristina Barcelona
Milk
Doubt
The Dark Knight
I´ve Loved You So Long
Rachel Getting Married
Frozen River
Happy Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Waltz With Bashir
The Reader
Trouble the Water
The Visitor
Gomorrah
Paranoid Park
The Class
Wall-E
Revolutionary Road
Snow Angels
Elegy
Ballast
The Fall
Synecdoche New york
Sex and the City: the Movie
Encounters at the End of the World
Public Enemies
Watch Men
Shutter Island
Nine
Up
Where the Wild Things Are
Avatar
Funny People
The Road
All Good Things
Whatever Works
Amelia
Cheri
The Human Factor
Green Zone
Inglorious Basterds
Broken Embraces
Edge of Darkness
Need
The Informant
Jennifer´s Body
Tree of Life
Bruno
The Hurt Locker
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Lovely Bones
Taking Woodstock
Biutiful
Tetro
The Limits of Control
My top 5 of the year: (There were several other good films but I usually pick the well-made film that also had a significant impact on me; hence, Benjamin Button is not on the list…)
1) Gran Torino
2) Let the right one in
3) The Dark Knight
4) Slumdog Millionaire
5) Milk
My top film every year never gets nominated for an Oscar. Last year, it was The Diving Bell and it was Pan’s Labyrinth/United 93 the year before. Wall-e and Man on Wire are tied at 6th.
I was going through various lists and something stood out for me and i thought was an interesting point to ponder.
What a fantastic year it has been for female lead performances!
The five nominated performances, sure:
Melissa Leo, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet.
Now Consider the ones that got away:
I would have been just as thrilled with these 5 as alternate Best Lead Actress nominees:
Kate Winslet in Rev. Road
Michelle Williams in Wendy & Lucy
Lina Leandersson in Let The Right One In
Sally Hawkins in Happy Go lucky
Kirsten Scott Thomas in I’ve Loved You So Long
And perhaps, almost there
Catherine Deneuve in A Christmas Tale
Juliette Binoche in Flight of the Red Balloon
Julianna Moore in Blindness
Has there been another year in recent memory with such memorable performances?
My Top Ten – in no particular order:
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
The Reader
Wendy and Lucy
Iron Man
Tropic Thunder
Cloverfield
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Some of the more well known “prestige” movies like Benjamin Button and Doubt just didn’t entertain me and move me in the same way that the movies on my list did.
The only movies that mattered to me in 2008 (and thoroughly enjoyed) were:
Milk
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
In Bruges
Let The Right One In
Frost/Nixon
Get Smart (yep)
The Wrestler
Kung Fu Panda
Gran Torino
The Fall
I couldn’t agree with you more Slumgod. It was indeed a great year for female leads. At least 10 different women could have been nominated and won and be deserving. Still, I truly hope this is the year that Kate Winslett gets her award…
My top 10 (Yet to see Benjamin Button, The Wrestler, Gran Torino)
1. WALL-E
2. CHANGELING
3. KUNG FU PANDA
4. DOUBT
5. THE DARK KNIGHT
6. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
7. FROST/NIXON
8. IN BRUGES
9. WALTZ WITH BASHIR
10. MILK
1. Synecdoche, New York
2. Snow Angels
3. Pineapple Express
4. Wendy and Lucy
5. Che
6. The Fall
7. Milk
8. Wall-E
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. The Visitor
Others (fifteen memorable films not in order):
The Flight of the Red Balloon
The Wrestler
Happy-Go-Lucky
The Band’s Visit
Paranoid Park
I’ve Loved You So Long
Ballast
A Christmas Tale
Rachel Getting Married
Shotgun Stories
The Class
In Bruges
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Encounters at the End of the World
My Winnipeg
When I think about what I’ll actually watch in the years to come, and remember and revisit and find new things in, I find a lot of my choices aren’t at all Oscar movies. I think that’s true for a lot of people though. If you ask people what their favorite movies are, the ones they watch over and over, it’s rarely the ones you see touted at the end of the year by the Academy. Easy proof of this is to look back and see who and what was nominated twenty, ten, or even five years ago and you’re more than likely to have forgotten about a number of those movies. I think the ones that stick with people are the ones that a bit more odd, and perhaps a bit less perfect (not that all Academy movies are perfect, often far from it), but I can’t help but think that in a year from now, people will be jonesing more on movies like Synecdoche, Wall-E, Che, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges and others rather than Slumdog, The Reader, Doubt, or any of the others movies being marketed as Important Films. This whole awards season purpose then, only has one real purpose, and that’s getting people to see great movies. While the Academy doesn’t always stretch beyong their comfort zones, there are so many other shows, prizes and celebrations of good work, that hopefully the smaller ones (and by small I don’t mean the seventh film by a well established director who just so happened to shoot in India this time, but rather the guy or girl who raised $500,000 from friends to shoot his or her dream film on borrowed cameras) are highlighted, and people seek them out and take chances on discovering greatness rather wrything around in the mediocrity that is most studio movies.
Ooh — fun. I, too, have caught up with some titles that I still hadn’t seen at Top Ten Time, but I’ve only added one to that list (”Rev. Road,” which knocks “Frost/Nixon” to #11 — I just couldn’t do that to “Happy-Go-Lucky). Whoever cares about this, enjoy!
20. “Wanted”
19. “The Visitor”
18. “Iron Man”
17. “Planet B-Boy”
16. “Gomorrah”
15. “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”
14. “Slumdog Millionaire”
13. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
12. “The Wrestler”
11. “Frost/Nixon”
10. “Happy-Go-Lucky”
09. “Reprise”
08. “Revolutionary Road”
07. “In Bruges”
06. “Man on Wire”
05. “WALL-E”
04. “Rachel Getting Married”
03. “The Dark Knight”
02. “Doubt”
01. “Milk”
I would recommend Shotgun Stories. I have it as the 2nd best film of the year behind The Wrestler.
It stars Michael Shannon, who gives a wonderful performance. Roger Ebert is one of the few critics to take notice(he gave it 4 stars and listed it in his 20 best of 2008)
10. The Dark Knight
9. Towelhead
8. Snow Angels
7. Gomorra
6. Che
5. WALL-E
4. In Bruges
3. Revolutionary Road
2. Shotgun Stories
1. The Wrestler
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